This is Ashley Moore’s Braided Headband. Well, you know what I mean. It’s actually totally my Braided Headband. As in, I like this one so much I wore it straight away and put it in my jacket pocket so I couldn’t change my mind and give it to someone who wanted it. You’ve seen this pattern knit here once before. This time I used a total splurge yarn: Lana Grossa’s Fusione. I used a bit of the skein in my Grogu puppet (where it made a great collar) and had about 100 yards left. The yarn is 30% cotton, 26% alpaca, 25% wool, and 19% nylon. It’s an incredibly soft Aran weight.

I modified the pattern only minimally. Moore suggests a US size 10 needle and worsted weight. I thought the cables looked less beefy at that gauge and bumped it up to an Aran weight and down to a US size 9 needle. I also added the 3-stitch applied I-cord edges by increasing the cast on by 6 stitches, to 26. Instead of kitchenering the provisional cast-on stitches to the final row of stitches, I used a 3-needle bind-off. To be more transparent about that, I first tried to work a proper graft from the mix of knit and purl stitches. When that looked horrible I knit one row of stockinette to try a regular stockinette-to-stockinette graft. That created an odd furrow of smooth across the headband. A 3-needle bind-off left a nice straight seam and I’m totally OK with that.

This is another Ravelry freebie, Kelly Klem’s Simply Soft Ear Warmers. I knit mine in a really nice gold brown shade of Berroco’s Ultra Wool, a worsted weight. I know. You’re looking at this dead shade in my photos and thinking I’m out-to-lunch. The yarn refuses to show its true colors in my photos.

The modification I made on this one was to add a 4th cable. I thought the width of the 3 cables wouldn’t give quite the amount of head and ear warming I was after. I cast on 27 stitches and, using a US size 8 needle, my headband is about 4 inches wide.

I’ll be. It must be the headband (or Glasshead) who’s shy and doesn’t want to show off its color. Here’s a photo of the skein that gives a better sense of how lively this shade really is.

Next is my zillionth Calorimetry. I’ve posted them all at some point in the 11-year history of this blog, so I’ll not link to the others. Kathryn Schoendorf’s free pattern is one of the most-knit patterns on Ravelry: 19,353 project pages with nearly 8000 Ravelers having the pattern waiting in their queues. If you haven’t knit it yet, think of the highest star rating you give a pattern and add one. This is the 24th time I’ve knit this.

I know that it looks like a pair of lips knit in this Noro Silk Garden. I like it like that! You’re sort of planting a kiss on someone’s head and they don’t even notice it.

I decided to close with a recent headband-knit of mine, featured in my Valentine’s Day post, in case you missed it. This next one is the Grindelwald Earband designed by Lisa McFetridge. The pattern deserves more love! There are currently only 10 Ravelry project pages. It’s an excellent pattern and a real buy at just $2.50. I knit mine in Malabrigo Rios.

Sometimes a headband is just what’s needed on a chilly or even downright cold day, especially if you have lots of hair that you don’t want to have beanie-blasted. It takes up almost no space in a pocket. When you take it off, your hair won’t look like you combed it with an eggbeater. And your ears will not be cold.